The Pune Cyber Police have arrested four individuals in a large-scale online investment fraud in which an 85-year-old retired businessman from Hadapsar was allegedly cheated of Rs 22.03 crore, officials said on Tuesday.
The accused have been identified as Munilkumar Surendra Singh (51) from Ambarnath in Thane, and Akash Chandrashekhar Marathe (27), Lala Keshav Umap (26), and Parmeshwar Dilip Dabhade (23), all from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. They were produced before a Pune court on Monday and remanded to police custody till Thursday.
According to the Cyber Police, the senior citizen was lured into investing through bogus share-trading websites and mobile applications that falsely assured him huge returns in a short period of time.
Vivek Masal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber), speaking to The Free Press Journal, said the accused were traced after investigators followed the money trail across multiple bank accounts.
"The fraud proceeds were rapidly rotated through several accounts to make tracking difficult. However, the arrested accused are not the masterminds of the scam but acted as money mules, allowing their bank accounts to be used in return for commission," said Misal.
"Large sums were credited to their accounts briefly before being swiftly transferred to other accounts to evade detection. Approximately Rs 1 crore of the defrauded amount passed through the account of one accused, while the remaining three handled transactions ranging between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh each," he added.
What was the case?
The victim lodged a complaint with the Pune Cyber Police on January 19. The investigation revealed that between October last year and January 12, he transferred funds to nearly 150 different bank accounts, most of which were mule accounts used solely for moving money.
Police further stated that the elderly man exhausted his lifetime savings and even sold movable and immovable assets. Having shut down his business a few years ago, he was repeatedly persuaded to invest more after being promised substantial profits.
Calling it the largest cyber fraud case registered in their jurisdiction so far, police said efforts are ongoing to identify and nab the main operators behind the scam.
The probe is being led by Senior Inspector Swapnali Shinde, along with Inspector Sangeeta Deokate and Sub-Inspectors Snehal Adsule and Sushil Damare.
